Next story:

S. Portland filmmaker released from detention in Israel

PORTLAND, Maine — A Maine filmmaker has been released from an Israeli detention center where he was being held for his participation in a flotilla that was defying Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Scott Hamman’s girlfriend, Charlotte Stuart, said the State Department informed his father Wednesday that he had been released and taken to an airport for a flight home.

Hamman, who is 29 and lives in South Portland, was hired to document an aid flotilla that aimed to deliver supplies to Gaza in defiance of an Israeli blockade. The flotilla was attacked by Israeli commandos on Monday, with the confrontation leaving nine pro-Palestinian activists dead.

Israel said Wednesday it was deporting the last of the nearly 700 foreigners who were detained following the deadly raid.